Hugo Barrette of Cap-Aux-Meules, QC, Stéphane Cossette of Chicoutimi, QC and Olympian Joseph Veloce of Fonthill, ON, won Canada's first medal of the 2013 UCI Pan American Track Championships in Mexico City on Wednesday, taking the silver medal in the Team Sprint.

The Team Sprint squad raced to second place on the opening day of competition at the CNAR Velodrome, falling just short of grabbing the gold medal against Venezuela.

In the qualifying session, the team set a new Canadian record of 43.682 seconds to finish second behind Venezuela.

Canada has a team of eight athletes at the Championships in Mexico City, which run until Sunday.

Three women will compete in the endurance events in Mexico. Kirsti Lay and Alison Beveridge of Calgary will team up with Candice Vermeulen of Toronto for the Team Pursuit. Lay will also compete in the Individual Pursuit and the Points Race. Vermeulen will participate in the Scratch Race while Beveridge is entered in the Omnium race.

On the men’s endurance side, Rémi Pelletier-Roy of Quebec City will race the Omnium as well as the Individual Pursuit, Scratch Race and Points Race.

Veloce and Barrette will also compete in the Keirin later this week, while Cossette and Scott Mulder of North Vancouver will contest the individual Sprint.

The track at the CNAR Velodrome was designed by Canadian velodrome designer Peter Junek (see photo below).

Day 1 results

Women 500TT

1 Lisandra Guerra (Cuba)

33.272

2 Juliana Gaviria (Colombia)

33.933

3 Madalyn Godby (United States)

34.300

4 Mariesthela Vilera (Venezuela)

34.385

5 Marynes Chiquin Prada (Venezuela)

34.880

6 Missy Erickson (United States)

35.488

7 Erika Alanis (Mexico)

35.579

8 Martha Bayona (Colombia)

36.146

9 Laura Arias (Cuba)

36.260

10 Hyriah Karollyn Tiemann (Brazil)

36.584

11 Karen Cruz (El Salvador)

36.586

12 Wellyda Dos Santos (Brazil)

36.794

13 Aline Patricia Tamez (Mexico)

37.183

14 Yamilet Jimenez (Guatemala)

37.315

15 Mariela Delgado (Argentina)

37.789

16 Paula Lucrecia Guillen (Guatemala)

38.044

17 Cassandra Rodríguez (Costa Rica)

38.691

18 Marcela Rubiano (Costa Rica)

39.231

Men Points Race

1 Máximo Rojas (Venezuela)

49 pts

2 Jan Carlos Arias (Cuba)

43

3 Manuel Oseas Rodas (Guatemala)

37

4 Iván de Jesús Carbajal (Mexico)

34

5 Armando Reis Dacosta (Brazil)

25

6 Rémi Pelletier-Roy (Canada)

23

7 Marcos Crespo (Argentina)

9

8 Dorian Javier Monterroso (Guatemala)

6

9 Darren Matthews (Barbados)

5

10 Thiago Duarte (Brazil)

5

11 Adrian Ezequiel Richeze (Argentina)

5

12 Fernando Gaviria (Colombia)

3

13 Jorge Luis Contreras (Chile)

3

14 William David Muñoz (Colombia)

3

15 Ramón Aguirre (Mexico)

-4

16 Ramon L. Martin (Cuba)

-20

DNF Rodolfo Villalobos (Costa Rica)

DNF Brandon Zavala (Puerto Rico)

DNF Pablo Jacob Seisdedos (Chile)

DNF Varun Maharajh (Trinidad and Tobago)

DNF Javier Alvarado (Costa Rica)

DNF Manuel Briceño (Venezuela)

Women Individual Pursuit

Final

1 Marlies Mejias (Cuba)

2 Yudelmis Dominguez (Cuba)

DNS

3 Elizabeth Newell (United States)

4 Maria Luisa Calle (Colombia)

DNF

5 Jennifer Cesar (Venezuela)

6 Daniely García (Venezuela)

7 Ruth Winder (United States)

8 Alejandra Feszczuk (Argentina)

9 Kirsti Lay (Canada)

10 Emelyn L. Galicia (Guatemala)

Men Team Sprint

Final

1 Venezuela (Cesar Marcano/Hersony Canelón/Ángel Pulgar)

43.606

2 Canada (Joseph Veloce/Stéphane Cossette/Hugo Barrette)

43.922

3 United States of America (Nathan Koch/Kevin Mansker/Matthew Baranoski)